MMA Linker

[philphan]

Study of athletes’ brain health enters 10th year with plenty of data, optimism
https://sports.yahoo.com/study-of-athle ... 50227.html


LAS VEGAS — On Tuesday, a fighter showed up at the Cleveland Clinic to undergo a series of largely routine tests. It was the 10th time the fighter had undergone this battery of brain examinations.

The significance of that was not lost on Dr. Aaron Ritter, the co-primary investigator of what is now known as the Professional Athletes Brain Health Study.

A decade ago when the study began, it was known as the Professional Fighters Brain Health Study, and was designed to help determine the long-term effects of repetitive head trauma.

The UFC, which on Thursday announced a donation of $1 million to help continue funding the study for the next five years, and various combat sports promoters have sent athletes to the Clinic since the inception of the study.

“We want to do all that we can do to support athlete health and safety,” UFC COO Lawrence Epstein said.

The goal of the study in simple terms is to understand brain injuries better and how to prevent cognitive decline and death. Ritter said the best way to accomplish that is to study athletes involved in sports in which there is repetitive head trauma over a lengthy period to track changes.

Nearly 900 athletes have visited the Cleveland Clinic once to do a brain scan, memory test and bloodwork. But to Ritter, the important thing is the number of those who return.

“More than half of those folks have come back for a follow-up and that is incredibly valuable,” Ritter said. “[Tuesday], we saw someone for the 10th time. We get an amazing amount of data from following them and it’s testament to the UFC for the encouragement they provide [their athletes to participate].”

The UFC has long been among the study’s top benefactors and it has committed more than $2 million over the years.

[PBells]

I think training contributes to long-term injuries, wear-and-tear, and CTE more than most think. Especially if you train like Chute Boxe where sparring is basically a full-on fight with KOs...

Which is all the more reason why fighters should be allowed to take things for recovery, but that's another topic.

[SpeakEasy]

Head trauma is like water cutting through a rock, doesn't matter the amount or the ferocity of the flowing water regardless it will wear down the rock.
The smallest drip of water can get into a cracked rock, freeze, expand and slowly split the rock over time.
Like the accumulation of jabs you take in sparring wont show up right away.
Or the head clashes you take every time you tackle someone in football.
Pbells is spot on though, essentially we turn streams into raging rivers by exasperating the brain and body through rigorously training and extreme weight cuts.
Boxing I belive was actually a bit better for this, at least for star fighters, because a training camp would be built around building the fighter up and hed rarely get torched in camp like we hear stories of mma fighters getting.
We aren't going to fix this unless we go the way of robot competitors taking humans place or we develop a fix it pill for every disease which is its own philosophical can of worms, regardless we should just accept that the gladiator blood still lives in some of us, some of us don't mind sacrificing life, limb or longevity, be it for their own thrills or our entertainment.

[DanyeWest]

As a person with head trauma and 3 unsanctioned school fights and scattered mma training under my belt, no. I can confirm with absolute professional certifications that this is fake news.

[EvilGorilla69+1]

Head trauma = CTE = Mood swings = Memory loss = Depression

[philphan]

Dana White says UFC is looking into research on micro-dosing psychedelics to combat brain trauma
https://www.yahoo.com/sports/dana-white ... 26364.html

Concerns about brain injuries in mixed martial arts are again on the rise after a devastating MMA Fighting article about former UFC veteran Spencer Fisher’s condition.

Fisher, a fan favorite with the nickname “The King,” has reportedly been declared permanently disabled, with the damage severe enough that he says he forgets the names of his three children. With little support from UFC, Fisher’s wife is left to take care of both him and their children.

When asked about Fisher’s condition by Yahoo Sports’ Kevin Iole, UFC president Dana White revealed that, in addition to UFC’s past contributions to the Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health, the promotion has approached researchers at Johns Hopkins University about a new kind of treatment: psychedelics.

Specifically, micro-dosing psychedelics.

“They’re micro-dosing psychedelics and they’re saying that it’s helping some of these guys with brain injuries,” White said. “We’ve talked to Johns Hopkins and we’re working on getting us involved with that too. ... The list goes on and on of all the things that we’ve done to try to improve the sport.”

Discussion about micro-dosing psychedelics has increased since HBO’s “Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel” aired a segment on the research being done on the matter. Former UFC fighters Ian McCall and Dean Lister told HBO they experienced improvements after such a treatment.

Johns Hopkins says the results have been highly encouraging:

Our research has demonstrated therapeutic effects in people who suffer a range of challenging conditions including addiction (smoking, alcohol, other drugs of abuse), existential distress caused by life-threatening disease, and treatment-resistant depression. Studying healthy volunteers has also advanced our understanding of the enduring positive effects of psilocybin and provided unique insight into neurophysiological mechanisms of action, with implications for understanding consciousness and optimizing therapeutic and non-therapeutic enduring positive effects.

UFC senior vice president of health and performance Jeff Novitzky told ESPN’s Marc Raimondi that the promotion’s interest came after the HBO segment aired, with a “directive” from White to look into psychedelic research.

Of course, even with encouraging steps in brain treatment, the danger of MMA fighting will always remain. Years of punches to the head will always be potentially traumatic, and White essentially said it was the cost of doing business for Spencer and other fighters.

“Everybody who gets involved in this sport, nobody is under the misconception that getting punched in the head is good for you,” White said. “Getting punched in the head is really bad for you. We all know it going in, the people who participate in it, the people who promote it, the people who watch it and the people who cover it. This is one of the facts of combat sports and contact sports as a whole.

“Spencer Fisher definitely isn’t the first and he won’t be the last.”

[KARHU-III]

Not mma.

Tank Abbott

[PBells]

Micro dosing psychedelics is also being studied for treatment of medication-resistant depression and PTSD which can benefit fighters even more

[philphan]

Not mma.

Tank Abbott

[JTuck34]

Being denied the right to the most effective post cycle therapy methods causes CTE

[PBells]

Being denied the right to the most effective post cycle therapy methods causes CTE

[SpeakEasy]

Micro dosing psychedelics is also being studied for treatment of medication-resistant depression and PTSD which can benefit fighters even more

I can anecdotally say this works amazingly.
I dont micro dose anymore but I do 4 controlled ego trips of 5 grams of golden teacher and it cured my severe suicidal depression.
They've also linked mushrooms to addiction as the leading stop smoking and drug pill, theres an over 90% success rate for quitters not relapsing to smoking and an over 70% no relapse rate for drug addicts and alcoholics.
Mushrooms save lives man, if anyone's having a hard time dealing with the anxieties or stress of covid shit or feel like they need to rewire their brain than mushrooms are for you.
I think mushrooms will really help put off the effects or cte but I dont knownif itll turn it around, I hope so my years of contact sports make me a little worried.

[PBells]

^ Very interesting! I was pondering saving up for a few ketamine treatments since meds make me feel blank and/or even fatter

[EvilGorilla69+1]

Mushrooms are awesome. I second that. Havent done any for more than a decade but the trio is pure. Just eat up amd enjoy the ride.